A dream fight has finally been announced for an upcoming UFC PPV (pay-per-view) event.
It’s been talked about for what seems like forever but fight fans are finally going to see a women’s featherweight title fight between champion Cris Cyborg and Holly Holm.
The promotion recently announced the bout, which will take place at UFC 219. It should be noted that there’s no word just yet if this showdown will serve as the main event.
Over the past few weeks, Cyborg (18-1) and Holm (11-3) have feuded on social media that sparked speculation within the MMA community that this fight could be made.
Some thought this fight would not happen due to Holm’s longtime manager, Lenny Frequez, telling MMAFighting.com last week the deal is “dead” after he and the promotion “could not come to financial terms.
However, Cyborg’s manager, George Prajin, told MMAjunkie in response that Holm was intentionally “pricing herself out,” because she didn’t want to fight Cyborg.
“The big fights are the ones you want as a fighter,” Prajin said. “Those lead to the most money. I can’t speak for her camp. All I can say is that Cris has agreed to the fight.” Obviously, things have changed with the official booking.
UFC President Dana White all along was optimistic about getting a deal done even though it didn’t seem likely.
Holm went on record by stating that she had some concerns over drug testing that eventually spilled into a social media fight in which Cyborg and Holm verbally sparred over the issue.
UFC 219 is set to take place on December 30, 2017 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The main card will air on pay-per-view while the preliminary card will air on FOX Sports 1 and the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass. Here is the updated card:
Champ Cris Cyborg vs. Holly Holm – for women’s featherweight title
Edson Barboza vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov
Jimmie Rivera vs. TBA
Cynthia Calvillo vs. Carla Esparza
Matheus Nicolau vs. Louis Smolka
Carlos Condit vs. Neil Magny
Khalil Rountree vs. Gokhan Saki
Rick Glenn vs. Myles Jury
Emil Meek vs. Kamaru Usman
Marc Diakiese vs. Dan Hooker